Sempiternal

by K. Renee

  I’d never told him anything about my strange hobby again. But I’d continued my lessons, performing for nothing other than my own enjoyment. But the legacy of the reaction of the man I’d left was what made me so nervous showing myself off to strangers. If he was repulsed, wouldn’t they be too?

  “Look Alex, I think you ought to give this a try…”

  “Celine. You know I love you, and how much I appreciate you taking me in. And I know you need me to start paying my way, but there must be something else I can do…”

  “You haven’t found anything so far. And,” she holds up her hands to stop me trying to talk over her again, “you need to get some confidence back. I think this is a great way. Go to the audition, show them what you’ve got, shake that little booty of yours, and if you get the job, great, you don’t have to take it. If they offer it to you, at least you’ll start believing that bastard Ron was just trying to wear you down.”

  But what he’d said was the truth. I could use a mirror as well as the next woman. It will just be one more situation where I’d make a man laugh. “But it’s a strip club,” I snarl. Shit, how did I end up with this as my only option? “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not? Plenty of women do. And it’s not as though you’re going to be a hooker. Damn girl, just give it a try. For me?”

  “I am not getting naked in front of strangers.” My hand wanders down and smoothes across the curves of my stomach.

  “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want. Wear a bodysuit or something. I’m sure you can work something out.” The airily way she dismisses all my protests makes me realise with a sinking feeling of dread, she’s actually serious about this.

  My eyes narrow. “They didn’t even look at me. They weren’t at all interested.” Yeah, they’d looked around at my coughing fit, but away just as quickly.

  She shrugs, pushing her artificially relaxed and straightened hair over her shoulders. “I may have led them to believe it was going to be me.”

  “Well you can fucking go instead.” There. If she’s so keen for one of us to take their clothes off in public, let it be her.

  “Alex,” she starts, sounding like she’s addressing a slow learner. “I might have been blessed with a typical figure and reasonable looks, but I can’t do with it what you can. You’ve got the rhythm and movement. I’m just a stick on two legs.”

  That brings a small smile to my lips. Unfortunately, she’s right. But is my ability to move enough for people to overlook my other major shortcomings?

  She leans forward and covers my hands with her own. “Babe, sleep on it, okay? If you don’t turn up, they won’t be too bothered. They only know to expect an Alex in the morning. If you really don’t want to do this, then don’t. But if you want to give it a try, then I’m behind you all the way.”

  Again, my teeth worry my bottom lip. If I wasn’t so desperate for money I wouldn’t even consider it. I start to wonder what the wages are like, the thought of being able to put dollars in my wallet suddenly sounding attractive. But her confidence I can pull it off is surely misplaced. I glance at my sister, not for the first time in my life, wishing I’d won the looks lottery instead. “You really think I can do this?”

  “Why not?”

  I can think of a hundred reasons why. Including, “I’m not a whore.”

  “Of course not!” She looks shocked. “Look, I used to know one of the girls who stripped there—lovely girl, actually. She told me nothing like that was expected. The bikers are protective of the girls, and make sure there’s no touching. Sure, some give lap dances, but none are pushed into it if they don’t want to. And woe betides a man who puts his hands on a girl unasked. She was like you, desperate for well-paying job, but because of the positive environment she actually enjoyed it. She ended up marrying one of the patrons.”

  Our glasses are once again empty. Celine gathers her jacket and picks up her purse. As I copy her actions her words go around in my head. Don’t be stupid. It’s ridiculous. I can just imagine Ron laughing his head off.

  And I pull myself up straight. What the fuck do I care what my soon-to-be ex-husband would think? Part of the reason I left was to change myself into someone different from the housewife he’d modelled me into, the Stepford wife clone he wanted to keep his house.

  I got away. I’m free. I can do anything.

  Can two people who have nothing in common find a way to each other even when the odds are stacked against them?

  Find out in Targeting Dart

  http://amzn.to/2z3JlSd

  Sneak Peek

  Something Just Like This

  Lisa Shelby

  Prologue

  “You’re kidding, right?” Her hand closes over her mouth the moment I bend to one knee and reach into my pocket.

  For a brief moment in time, I actually think she may just be surprised, but when she throws her head back and laughs with pure abandon, my body turns cold, and I start to feel sick.

  “Liam, for God sakes, get up! We don’t need people to see you and have the word get out that you’ve proposed. What in the Lord’s name are you thinking?” She all but yells through the outdoor terrace of the restaurant I reserved weeks ago, specifically for this moment.

  Getting up from bended knee and shoving the small square box deep into my pocket, I fall back into my seat. My seat at the table with the candle-lit setting that she continues standing next to, looking down on me in disbelief.

  I don’t like the way this feels.

  Her standing above me. Looking down on me.

  I sense people staring at us, and I can hear their whispers.

  Why isn’t she sitting down? I am this close to my emotions getting the better of me.

  The kind of emotions I’m not used to feeling.

  “Why don’t you have a seat? If you don’t want attention, you might want to sit down.” I can hear the terseness in my voice.

  It’s taking everything I have to keep my ass in my seat and not to flee the bloody scene before me. I force myself to resist because there is no need to cause a bigger scene than we already have.

  She finally sits.

  “Liam, honey…I thought you knew we weren’t serious. I thought you were just having fun too?”

  “Clearly, you thought wrong,” is all I can muster.

  I feel my rage boiling under the surface, and I know if I say much more, the scene I’m trying to avoid will likely take place.

  Her smile hasn’t left her face since her hysterical fit of laughter. It’s almost as if she’s enjoying herself and finding the entire ordeal hilarious.

  “Liam, we have fun together and you’re great in bed— I mean really great—but there has never been any long term possibility for us.” She tilts her head and looks at me like I’m a child she has to talk down to so I understand the words that are coming out of her mouth.

  How could I have been so wrong about us?

  She can see the confusion on my face and shakes her head, taking my hand and patting it to placate me. Smile still in place.

  “Sweetie, please don’t take this the wrong way…but you aren’t really the marrying kind. You’re the kind of guy a girl dates to get under her parents’ skin.”

  I rip my hand out from underneath hers. Is this really happening right now?

  She sits back in her chair, relaxed and chipper as can be. “My parents already hope I’ll marry my dad’s business associate’s son. A son with blue blood, and I know that chapter of my life is right around the corner. That’s where you came in. I was making sure I had as much fun as I could with a regular guy before it was time to settle down. Once that happens, my life with be filled with dinner parties, babies, and boring sex.”

  And the hits just keep coming. “You mean a regular guy who will get under her parents’ skin. That’s what all of this...” I say, motioning my hand between the two of us. “…has been about?”

  “Listen, I know you make good money and you treat me well, but you’re new money, da
rlin’, and that’s just not quite the same thing. It’s not what my family and I are looking for. You know how it is.” “I do now.” “Liam, again no offense but do you really see me having little brown babies running around the club? My parents would be mortified.” She chuckles.

  Holy fuck! This is about my skin color. Who the fuck is she?

  I raise my hand to let our server know we’re ready for our check. I think I’ve had about enough, and it’s time to go. “Oh, come on Liam. You don’t have to be a baby and cut the night short. You’re a big tough guy. It’s not like you actually popped the question. You didn’t ask me anything, and I didn’t decline any offers. Let’s just forget the whole thing.” She leans forward and looks up and down the small menu in front of her. “Besides, I haven’t ordered my dessert yet.”

  Her fucking dessert? She must be out of her fucking mind!

  The server brings the check to the table, and I’ve already got my card out. While I wait for him to return my card, I stare out at the lake in front of me. I can’t look at her face another minute.

  I just want out of this fucking restaurant. Now.

  I sign the receipt once my card is returned to me. I stand and pull out her chair without looking at her. She stands on a huff. “You’re being a baby, Liam.”

  I don’t reply.

  Not sure what I would say to the racist bitch that pretty much just told me I was beneath her. That I’m a joke she was using to piss her parents off.

  Yep, not sure there’s anything to say that won’t lead to me getting arrested.

  I walk ahead of her and straight to the valet. I can hear her stomping behind me, mumbling under her breath, and I could not give two shits.

  She stands next to me but neither of us speak. She’s texting someone. I’m sure she’s telling her hysterical story to all of her little friends and laughing at my expense.

  Where is my fucking car?

  I hear her giggle at something just as my car is parked in front of us. I tip the valet and walk around to the driver’s side of the car and get in. She stands outside the passenger side door and for a minute has the nerve to act appalled that I haven’t gotten back out to open her door for her.

  She’ll be waiting a long fucking time.

  Eventually, she gets the message and lets herself in. The moment she slams the door shut, I take off. I couldn’t care less that she doesn’t have her seat belt on. I just need to get her home, out of my car, and out of my God-damned life.

  As we pull into her driveway, she takes off her seat belt. Her hand trails up my thigh, and she grabs my cock. If she thinks that she will ever get me hard for her again she is sorely mistaken. I lift her hand off me and drop it in her lap. She disgusts me.

  “Honey, if my money and my skin color aren’t good enough for you then my dick surely isn’t. Play time is over.” I put the car in park and reach in front of her and open her door for her instead of walking around the car and opening it. “You have a nice night.”

  And get the fuck out of my car!

  She pouts for a moment and then steps out of the car, but before she closes the door, she leans in and says, “Thanks for dinner…”

  I jolt up in my bed, dripping in sweat and feeling like I might get sick.

  Fuck this dream…or shall I say nightmare. It’s been months since that laugh has haunted my sleep, and I do not plan on letting it taunt me again. I need a drink.

  http://amzn.to/2yJAhmC

  About the author

  K. Renee is from sunny California. Creative by nature, she decided to put her imagination on paper. During the day, she works in an office; at night, she writes. These stories have been in her head for years and are finally coming out on paper.

  http://kreneeauthor.net

  https://www.facebook.com/kayreneeauthor

  k.renee.author@gmail.com

  Tsu: KReneeAuthor

  Twitter: k_renee_author

  https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/36533772-k-renee

  Acknowledgements

  First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for buying this book! I never thought I would be releasing one book, let alone writing as many as I have in this short amount of time.

  I can’t wait for everyone to meet my characters and fall in love with them like I have.

  To my street team, K’s Wayward Ladies… Thank you for all you do! You girls are amazing at pimping my book out to the indie world. Thank you for your support and I can’t wait to see what the future brings.

  To the readers and fans… I thank each and everyone one of you who come to hang out with me during takeovers, participating in my giveaways! I hope you like this and my future books.

  -K